East. Period.

I wonder what happens when the divisions are actually even as they will be next year.

It's really deeper than that. This was a very complicated football season:

* The CUSA WEST had 4 bowl teams this year and the EAST only had 3.
* LA Tech and WKU essentially proved that the home team will win this year.
* In one of the biggest oddities of the season, ODU (2nd in the east) didn't even play MTSU (3rd best team in the east) this year. That's a down right conspiracy, and should never happen. CUSA has got to fix that.
* Marshall unexpectedly cratered in the EAST
* MTSU underachieved in the EAST
* Charlotte overachieved in the EAST
* UTSA overachieved in the WEST
* USM underachieved in the WEST, but finished strong

So, I would say it was pretty darn even.

Looking at the composite winning percentage for both divisions, this is what you get.

West composite winning percentage in conference play -- .4583
East composite winning percentage in conference play -- .5178

Just another way of looking at it, but looking at winning percentages for both divisions shows the East as being slightly better in conference play. Since looking at interdivision play only (without cross-division games) would automatically result in 50% wins, the higher composite percentage for the East is obviously the result of the East winning more of its cross-division games. I did not use the results of the conference championship game in the calculations -- just 8 conference games for each team.

By the way, kind of interesting to note that ODU had three wins over West Division teams, and the only West team with more West Division wins than ODU was the West Division Champ, LA Tech, with four wins.

(01-01-2017 06:32 PM)HogDawg Wrote:  It's really deeper than that. This was a very complicated football season:

* The CUSA WEST had 4 bowl teams this year and the EAST only had 3.
* LA Tech and WKU essentially proved that the home team will win this year.
* In one of the biggest oddities of the season, ODU (2nd in the east) didn't even play MTSU (3rd best team in the east) this year. That's a down right conspiracy, and should never happen. CUSA has got to fix that.
* Marshall unexpectedly cratered in the EAST
* MTSU underachieved in the EAST
* Charlotte overachieved in the EAST
* UTSA overachieved in the WEST
* USM underachieved in the WEST, but finished strong

So, I would say it was pretty darn even.

Good analysis. I agree close to even with a slight edge for the east since WKU won CUSA

The only CUSA to beat a ranked team this year was from the west, Tech over #25 Navy

When comparing winning percentages I like to look at SOS also.
UNT played Tech, WKU and Middle; while ODU played just WKU

CUSA SOS
West
Tech - 102
Rice - 107
UNT - 110
UTSA - 114
USM - 126
UTEP- 139

Avg. 116


East
WKU - 112
FIU - 113
Marshall - 125
FAU - 127
Middle - 130
Charlotte - 132
ODU - 138

Avg. 125

The East had 3 out of the 4 best teams. I would say it is hard to claim the west was better. On top of that, the two worst teams in the conference were in the west.

(01-03-2017 12:36 PM)Gilesfan Wrote:  The East had 3 out of the 4 best teams. I would say it is hard to claim the west was better. On top of that, the two worst teams in the conference were in the west.

Actually, the East had 2 teams that were 3-9 and the west 1. Notably, the East had 4 teams with 4 or fewer wins and the West 2.

Overall, the West played stiffer OOC games.

That said, I would give the East the nod as better division, only slightly though.

(01-03-2017 12:58 PM)va-eagle Wrote:  

(01-03-2017 12:36 PM)Gilesfan Wrote:  The East had 3 out of the 4 best teams. I would say it is hard to claim the west was better. On top of that, the two worst teams in the conference were in the west.

Actually, the East had 2 teams that were 3-9 and the west 1. Notably, the East had 4 teams with 4 or fewer wins and the West 2.

Overall, the West played stiffer OOC games.

That said, I would give the East the nod as better division, only slightly though.

That doesn't counter what I said...best 4 teams were WK, LT, MTSU, ODU. The worst 2 were UTEP and Rice.

Now, UTSA and USM were better than the rest in the East, but I wouldn't say the West was better.

(01-03-2017 03:16 PM)Gilesfan Wrote:  

(01-03-2017 12:58 PM)va-eagle Wrote:  

(01-03-2017 12:36 PM)Gilesfan Wrote:  The East had 3 out of the 4 best teams. I would say it is hard to claim the west was better. On top of that, the two worst teams in the conference were in the west.

Actually, the East had 2 teams that were 3-9 and the west 1. Notably, the East had 4 teams with 4 or fewer wins and the West 2.

Overall, the West played stiffer OOC games.

That said, I would give the East the nod as better division, only slightly though.

That doesn't counter what I said...best 4 teams were WK, LT, MTSU, ODU. The worst 2 were UTEP and Rice.

Now, UTSA and USM were better than the rest in the East, but I wouldn't say the West was better.

Okay, stated differently... the East had 4 of the worst 6 teams in the league.

But yes, East was better overall..: slightly.

lol

(01-03-2017 03:16 PM)Gilesfan Wrote:  

(01-03-2017 12:58 PM)va-eagle Wrote:  

(01-03-2017 12:36 PM)Gilesfan Wrote:  The East had 3 out of the 4 best teams. I would say it is hard to claim the west was better. On top of that, the two worst teams in the conference were in the west.

Actually, the East had 2 teams that were 3-9 and the west 1. Notably, the East had 4 teams with 4 or fewer wins and the West 2.

Overall, the West played stiffer OOC games.

That said, I would give the East the nod as better division, only slightly though.

That doesn't counter what I said...best 4 teams were WK, LT, MTSU, ODU. The worst 2 were UTEP and Rice.

Now, UTSA and USM were better than the rest in the East, but I wouldn't say the West was better.

But USM got rolled at home by Charlotte.

Yes, that was embarrassing.

(01-03-2017 10:29 PM)va-eagle Wrote:  

(01-03-2017 03:16 PM)Gilesfan Wrote:  

(01-03-2017 12:58 PM)va-eagle Wrote:  

(01-03-2017 12:36 PM)Gilesfan Wrote:  The East had 3 out of the 4 best teams. I would say it is hard to claim the west was better. On top of that, the two worst teams in the conference were in the west.

Actually, the East had 2 teams that were 3-9 and the west 1. Notably, the East had 4 teams with 4 or fewer wins and the West 2.

Overall, the West played stiffer OOC games.

That said, I would give the East the nod as better division, only slightly though.

That doesn't counter what I said...best 4 teams were WK, LT, MTSU, ODU. The worst 2 were UTEP and Rice.

Now, UTSA and USM were better than the rest in the East, but I wouldn't say the West was better.

Okay, stated differently... the East had 4 of the worst 6 teams in the league.

But yes, East was better overall..: slightly.

I don't think you are wrong there, but I think there is a huge gap between the top 4 teams in the conference and everyone else. And I'm not sure there is a huge gap between the mid tier CUSA teams and the bottom.

(01-04-2017 09:27 AM)Tintin Wrote:  

(01-03-2017 03:16 PM)Gilesfan Wrote:  

(01-03-2017 12:58 PM)va-eagle Wrote:  

(01-03-2017 12:36 PM)Gilesfan Wrote:  The East had 3 out of the 4 best teams. I would say it is hard to claim the west was better. On top of that, the two worst teams in the conference were in the west.

Actually, the East had 2 teams that were 3-9 and the west 1. Notably, the East had 4 teams with 4 or fewer wins and the West 2.

Overall, the West played stiffer OOC games.

That said, I would give the East the nod as better division, only slightly though.

That doesn't counter what I said...best 4 teams were WK, LT, MTSU, ODU. The worst 2 were UTEP and Rice.

Now, UTSA and USM were better than the rest in the East, but I wouldn't say the West was better.

But USM got rolled at home by Charlotte.

You are correct and congrats on your 4-8 season and averaging less than 15k fans at your games.